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With a heavy heart, PHRMG reports that
99 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army in the month
of March. 28 of these unfortunate deaths are that of
Palestinian children.
Also in the 31 days of March, 17
Israeli civilians (9 children) and 5 Israeli military
personnel were killed.
A total of 116 people, Palestinians
and Israelis, were killed in the “Promised Land” in one
month, by the hands of “the neighbor-enemy.” This brings
the total for 2003, a year continually soaked in Intifada
blood and vengeance, to 284 dead human beings who once lived
in the Israeli-Palestinian lands (232 Palestinians and 52
Israelis).
2003 has been an increasingly violent
year with January witnessing 64 Palestinian deaths, (22
Israeli), February- 69 Palestinians (8 Israeli), and March-
99 Palestinians (22 Israelis). Please note: it is just
getting worse. There is no peace and there is no security.
For anyone. Ariel Sharon has failed his promises. Arafat
has long been rendered powerless. America manipulates its
policy on the region, toying with the “Road Map” like a
carrot on a stick, to serve its own deals from the secure
over-stuffed armchairs in Washington. And so it goes for
the time being, while all eyes are on the heavily-reported
bombs and smoke of the demise of Iraq. Palestinians
continue to hope they won’t get shot. Israelis continue to
hope they won’t get bombed. Both know their chances of such
incidents are frightening real as they do their best to cope
with this perverse reality.
The al-Aqsa intifada, full of hate,
greed, revenge, brutality, and injustice, has brought the
bitter slaughter of 2105 Palestinian lives and 699 Israeli
lives since its inception on September 29, 2000. Perhaps
worse of all is the fact that 504 children (412 Palestinian
and 92 Israeli) have had their lives stolen in the process.
PHRMG continues to monitor and report
human rights violations against Palestinians, by any
perpetrator, to be daily abreast of the changing situation
and cry out for justice. In the words of Martin Luther
King, Jr., “We must accept finite disappointment, but we
must never lose infinite hope.” |
